Being an Online Teacher (BOT) course (Module 2)

There were half the numbers for Module 2 of the course as there were for Module 1. I hope the instructors give us some ideas as to why so many dropped out, but here are my thoughts (in no particular order):

Too many participants: I think we started with 60 or so participants. I could understand that is a large number for an online course, especially if the instructors are giving individual feedback. Also, things such as the wiki and the discussion forums did not work that well with so many people – perhaps there is a number of participants – not too few, and not too many, where online classes so work. But where does that leave MOOCs? Anyway, perhaps there was a conscious decision by the instructors to be strict with ‘must do tasks’ and get the numbers down.

Perhaps it was not what some people had expected; I know I was thinking at times that I knew what was being covered, but generally in this type of course I am willing to give it time because there is always a chance to learn new things – and as I discovered in Module 1 I did learn a lot.

Workload – even though it was at the beginning of the semester, teachers are still getting busy and having to find time to do the BOT activities as well. As the BOT course is designed to run at the same time as the semester, I am not sure if there is a way around this. But, I can understand if people dropped out because of the workload.

I found Module 2 to have a lower workload. I made three journal entries which are linked to below.